Knightfall
by Janus Darko
Summary: In 1991, The Golden Trio played the greatest game of chess Albus Dumbledore had seen in many years. In 1998, one important member of the Trio will notice something during the Battle of Hogwarts that may lead to the Light's victory...but at what cost? Warning: Final Battle violence, small amounts of gore, some coarse language, and MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH! Rating T for safety.


I don't own anything mentioned here. Harry Potter and all related characters belong to JK Rowling, Warner Brothers, and all relevant book publishers.

This is my response…ish to my own challenge(is it arrogant to respond to my own challenge?) called 'Harry Potter – Knightfall'. Make your own version however you wish.

Also, a side note. For the first few "Harry Potter" Films (why couldn't they just call it 'The Hogwarts Saga'?) Lavender Brown was African-American, or Afro-European, or Negro, or Black (I don't know how to say it, I'm of mixed Black and White descent so I never bothered to learn the different ways to say it), but for HBP, she got recast for almost no reason that I can find, other than they forgot they already cast her, with a blonde, blue eyed unconfirmed white girl (no racism, just easiest way to say it, and there's been cases of blonde, blue eyed, bright skinned biologically black babies)

Too make a long point short (too late)…in this story, she's mixed descent Afro-Caucasian.

 **-KF-**

 **Battle of Hogwarts - May 02, 1998**

' _Today started so nice.'_

Strange thoughts often occupy the most space in a mind that's freaking out. Running between shards and rubble of your'currently-under-siege' school while dodging spells flying from all directions will do that to a fellow.

In short, Ronald Weasley was having a bad day. In all, he could recall having had five very bad days. Which one actually qualified as 'the worst' was constantly changing. His mind recalled the first and earliest of which, the day his brothers had transfigured his teddy bear into a giant spider. A pivotal turning point in his development, this had started his life-long fear of spiders and vague mistrust of all things Fred and George. Even seeing his mother unleashing 2 hours worth of yelling at the duo had only softened the blow.

"COME OUT; COME OUT WHERE EVER YOU ARE! I'LL FIND YOU, POTTER! AND THE MUDBLOOD TOO!"

' _And now we have_ _ **this**_ _. Of course! We're just not having FUN without having to deal with an insane witch with equal lust for bald men and blood.'_

The next was the occasion during which his malfunctioning wand had caused him to spontaneously spew slugs all over a trophy room for the better part of an evening. In hindsight, ' **Eat Slugs** ' probably wouldn't have worked as a spell anyway, but it wouldn't have hurt to try. That **'Sunshine Daisies'** spell from the first train ride might have even had some sort of effect if his rat hadn't been a middle-aged balding man who'd spend more than a decade in the close company of teenage boys.

The reason this hadn't been so high on the list was because his broken wand had resulted from crashing the flying car he and Harry had 'borrowed' from his own father into the Whomping Willow. Students would be telling _that_ story for years.

' _If only one Tom had chosen that bloody 'Special Services' award as a Horcrux, then I could have blown it to smithereens. Or at least fed it to the Giant Squid. I should do it anyway, just to have all our hoops covered.'_

Jumping over a fallen pillar, Ron heard a roar coming from the Forbidden Forest, aka 'Place to Stay VERY FAR AWAY FROM NO. 2'; followed by the sound of crashing metal and a familiar engine growing louder.

' _That car's going to outlive all of us.'_

Looking across the battlefield Ron could see his father's old Ford Anglia ramming into Death Eaters left and right, flanked by centaurs and looking to be adorned in what seemed to be centauran war paint. He winced when he witnessed the car closing its boot on a flailing dark wizard, who disappeared within. In an attempt to forget the implications of said event, his mind wandered back to his Second Year once more, to another bad day featuring his 'adventure' with Harry into the den of Aragog, Hagrid's "pet spider".

While they _had_ discovered Hagrid's innocence in the previous opening of the Chamber fifty years prior, being surrounded by several dozen hungry spiders each roughly the size of a tiger was not an experience he was welcome to repeat. The nightmares he'd suffered from since that day had only slightly abated when he was informed of Aragog's passing. Even then, delusions of renegade acromantulas coming to abduct him in his sleep had increased.

An explosion caused him to turn around and, spotting Bellatrix immediately ran as fast as he could in another direction, cursing Death Eaters along the way. He almost tripped over a few charging house elves charging at a troll off his path. Thankfully, her loud screeching was an easy pin pointer as to her direction. Hearing her screams actually brought to mind one of his more recent bad days. Before once again accompanying Harry on a dangerous quest, he'd found himself assaulted in the Room of Requirement.

This had led to not only being captured by Malfoy and his goons, but flying on a giant skeletal horse that only those who'd seen Death could actually see themselves. Since until recently he hadn't had that particular pleasure, he was forced to fly on the back of what seemed like a very angry nothing for near an hour before finally reaching the Ministry of Magic in an attempt to rescue Harry's Godfather, Sirius Black.

This in itself had turned out to be a trap, and resulted in a battle with Voldemort's inner circle in one of the most 'unspeakable' places in Magical Britain. This would have been a bad day qualifier already, had Hermione not subsequently been cursed, Harry possessed for that short period of time or himself been thrown into a tank of sentient brains.

Oddly, this barely qualified as the strangest thing to happen to him, though his intelligence had taken a hit for a few days while he was in recovery. It wasn't until later after the battle that he'd discovered that Sirius had been killed. Ron had explained to Harry later why Bellatrix seemed to have been toying with his godfather by using non-lethal magic.

While Sirius had been blasted off his family tree, he was never officially disowned, meaning he was still the sole heir to Orion Black. As he was the Head of the family, it was impossible for her to ever use an Unforgivable on him, due to some of the wards placed on the position. The fact that she had maneuvered him into a position where she could kill him with a Stunner only showed how ruthless she was.

' _Hopefully Hermione is having better luck defending Professor McGonagall and the Castle.'_

Knowing Hermione, she was probably using her status as the 'Brightest Witch of Her Age' to set up all sorts of dangerous traps along with Neville and Seamus. Ron smirked as he remembered the amount of explosions their classmate had caused in their tenure at the school. That kind of destructive power needed to be put to good use.

' _I wonder if he ever got that_ _ **'Water into Rum'**_ _spell working.'_

He'd singed part of Harry's face in his catastrophic first attempt at levitating a feather, so he was probably a ways away from that feat.

' _Harry.'_

He'd come a long way from that day on the train. Here he still was today after having survived against Voldemort in the graveyard in their Fourth Year. Ron knew he'd come out fine in the end. The man had been avoiding Death his entire life. Now today, people were considering him some sort of _holy figure,_ out to destroy the Tyranny of Evil or whatnot. No one even realized he'd just gotten really lucky, or possibly he was just too hard headed to be taken out easily.

"I'll say this about the man. Even as a baby, he was really bloody hard to kill."

The words had barely left his mouth before a wall exploded near him, and a wild sing-song cackle could be heard through the wreckage.

"He he he LOOK WHAT I FOUND! A WEASLEY!"

The red headed wizard spun around and launched a Leg Locking jinx at the witch, who dodged it easily, dancing out of the way.

"Do you really think someone like YOU has what it takes to defeat the Dark Lord, Blood Traitor? Are you going to ride in on your shining steed to save the day?"

Her voice took on a mocking quality.

"Oh please, _Sir Knight_ , save me! _Save Me!"_

Ron dodged out of the way of a nasty looking hex and braced himself behind a section of wall that was still standing.

"I don't need to defeat your master, Trixie! Harry can do that himself! He's basically made a game of it at this point!"

Bellatrix screamed in rage releasing a volley of spells at the wall. Ron dodged out of the way before whipping, thorny vines, a sand pit, and flaming vultures had their way with him.

' _Why is it birds keep hurling birds at me?'_

In the midst of his scrambling, his mind swept back to another bad day, not quite as bad as the first few, but memorable just the same. He had just played one of the best games of Quidditch in his entire life, and was on the top of the world. To make things better, right when he started celebrating Lavender Brown, the two colored beauty (pun vaguely intended) of Gryffindor launched herself at him and planted one of the greatest, if not first, kisses ever on him.

In his joy of actually catching not just Quaffles but the attention of one of the hottest girls in the school, he'd forgotten about Hermione, the girl he may or may not, possibly "do I really have to say it" cared about at some point or another. Stupidly, he admitted now, he'd confronted his two best friends in the world about their intentions with each whilst trysting with a girl. This had caused the 'brilliant, but scary' female of the group to launch paper birds at him.

' _I think I still have a few scars from that day somewhere.'_

At the moment however, he wasn't in the position to check, as the witch attacking him sent a mud golem after him.

"Whoa!"

Ron jumped out of the way, casting a blasting hex at the creature over his shoulder before yelling to his attacker again.

"Come on! Harry walked right up to your big bad master, unarmed and surrounded by goons mind you, and still got back on his feet from a point blank _**Killing Curse**_ _AFTER HAVING A NAP!_ "

The mad witch began shrieking with rage, hexes and curses dancing off her wand toward him sporadically.

"Neither you or the little Mudblood could EVER HOPE OF DEFEATING MY MASTER! You're both USELESS!"

Quickly casting a Shield charm against her attack, he braced himself.

He started running as soon as the spells stopped impacting his barrier, looking for more space to duel in.

The wizard shot a water spell at the ground ahead of him, quickly followed by an _**'Incendio'**_. The entire area became clouded with a thick fog.

"We don't HAVE to be! Harry's the one who's going to take out Ol' Snake Face! Not me, not Hermione, HIM!"

Suddenly, Ron felt a twinge of what Hermione explained to him as Déjà vu.

Hermione was with Professor McGonagall, protecting the Castle…no, she _was_ the Castle.

" _ **Hermione, you'll be the Queen's Side Castle…"**_

McGonagall was basically the Queen to Dumbledore (and Hogwarts)'s King…

And Harry, the 'Boy-Who-Lived' who everyone was calling some holy figure…

" **Harry, you take the empty Bishop's square."**

Snape used to advise Dumbledore, hadn't he? He was his closest advisor…and Harry…

" _I told him I'm Dumbledore's man, through and through."_

" _Are you going to ride in on your_ _ **shining steed**_ _to save the day?"_

" _Oh please,_ _ **Sir Knight**_ _, save me! Save Me!"_

He was 11 years old, climbing atop a marble horse, getting a better look at the board…

" _ **I'll be a Knight."**_

He soon found himself on the remains of the bridge. The guard rails having all crumbled to the ground below. The exhaustion was starting to take its toll on him from his constant guard against her barrage. Off in the distance, he could still see several of his classmates weathering the assault.

Dean Thomas and Ernie MacMillan were launching Bludgers at the invaders.

Justin Finch-Fletchley and Terry Boot were enchanting the tables and benches to defend the younger students.

Luna Lovegood was gliding above the battle leading a fleet of Cornish Pixies with Susan Bones apparently levitating her.

And just ahead of him, a tangle of black hair swayed menacingly atop the head of a woman taking slow methodical steps toward a student.

No, not just a student.

 _Harry._

Ron immediately raised his wand, firing a hex directly in front of the Dark Lord's second –in- command.

 _ **His Queen.**_

She turned toward him slowly, her dark eyes boring straight into him. Steeling his resolve, he launched another spell at her, which she banished with a wave of her wand.

She began walking toward him, her eyes narrowing to slits that could rival Riddle's own, a sneer twisting her face. Her long black nails looking like a Veela's talons. Any trace of the beauty she might have had from her Black ancestry was melted away by her boiling rage.

"You think you can take ME on?!"

She threw a spell at him, which he barely dodged.

"I'm the Dark Lord's most trusted servant!"

She launched another spell at him, which he banished away himself.

"I alone know the Dark Lord's secrets! I alone will do ANYTHING to help him in his GLORY!"

Unable to stop himself, he let out a chuckle.

"Are you sure about that? I seem to recall Harry telling me that Wormtail gave his RIGHT HAND to bring Riddle back to a working body. Speaking of which, Harry told me that before he got his new body, he was basically an evil baby. So I'm guessing _you_ were the one changing Ickle Tommy's nappies?"

Bellatrix looked at him in shock.

"I'm wondering why he never tried to have an heir. I mean, sure he had the whole 'I have gone further than any down the path to immortality' thing going on. That's all dandy, but you'd think he'd want someone to take over somewhere for him if he was busy. What happened? You weren't mother material enough for him?"

He dodged another spell from her.

"Your maternal instinct must be rancid if _Peter Pettigrew IS A BETTER MOTHER THAN YOU ARE!"_

"YOU INSOLENT WHELP!"

She launched another, this heat from this one burning his side as he leapt out of the way…into the path of a cutting hex.

The curse sliced through his sweater, not deep enough that he thought it hit anything vital, but deep enough that his blood was beginning to seep out of the wound at a steady pace.

Ron looked down at the 'R' hanging halfway off his body, the color of his sweater remaining same for the most part.

' _I guess having a maroon sweater has some advantages.'_

"I wonder if Wormtail still sings him lullabies. **'** _ **Sleep my little Master, dream the weaklings' fall, one day soon your time will come, you will RULE US ALL!'**_ "

He barely blocked a black vine shot toward him.

"Do you think he calls him 'Mommy' in when no one's around?"

"RAAARGH!"

' _Uh-oh.'_

" **CONFRACTUS!"**

Before he could react, the bones in his leg shattered, leaving him screaming in agony.

' _I_ _may_ _have gone too far with that last one.'_

" **CRUCIO!** "

The Torture Curse spread through is body immediately, activating every one of his nerves and touch receptors at once. The wind hitting his face felt frostbitten, and he felt as if his clothing were made thorn bushes. All of this compacted with the pain in his torso and leg multiplied the pain tenfold.

' _Eh, it was worth it.'_

She ended the curse on him, watching him writhing in pain on the ground, before slowly stalking up to him.

"I'm going to enjoy this EXACTLY AS MUCH AS I SHOULD."

She cast a small cutting curse at his leg, causing him to scream in pain once more.

Suddenly, she jammed the tip of her wand into the gash on his leg and cast a bludgeoning hex, making it feel as if Hagrid's brother, Grawp had stomped on his leg.

As he screamed in pain, she grasped his head by the hair hard, clawing his skull with her long nails and slammed it back into the ground before standing and stalking away from him to gloat.

"YOU AND ALL OF YOUR PATHETIC FRIENDS WILL LOSE! AT THE END OF THE DAY, THE DARK LORD WILL STAND VICTORIOUS OVER YOU ALL!"

The youngest Weasley male struggled to his feet, clutching his torso with his off hand.

Blood dripping down his face into his eye, he looked into the eyes of the crazed witch.

"You still don't get it, do you? You've already LOST! All those secrets that you alone know aren't so secret anymore! The horcruxes have been destroyed, and soon **SO WILL HE**!"

He could see it in her eyes. He could see the moment when she realized for an instant that maybe he was right and Riddle _would_ die tonight. Her face returned for a split second to what she might have been before Riddle's influence, a small frightened young woman with a regal beauty. Just as quickly as it had come, that last moment of clarity disappeared behind the madness once more, her face forever corrupted by the future Dark Lord.

"THEN I'LL MAKE HIM PROUD **BY KILLING POTTER'S FAITHFUL KNIGHT**!"

To Ron, time slowed to a crawl. He could see Bellatrix raising her hand, the sickly green glow of the Killing Curse resonating off the end of her wand and shining on her long black nails. Beyond her, he could see many of his classmates still battling in the hopes of protecting their home. Some were winning, some were failing. The bodies of both enemy and ally near indistinguishable. He could see the flying car tossing a Death Eater through the air, only for it to be swatted away by the Willow. He could suddenly hear his younger self's voice echoing in his head, taking him back to that night, one more time.

" **You understand, don't you Harry? When I make my move, the Queen will take me."**

Far behind Bellatrix, he could see Harry walking slowly up to the Great Hall, where Voldemort was waiting.

" **Then you're free to check the King."**

He saw Harry disappear through the doors before he shut them behind him.

' _I was right back then, Harry. It's you who has to go on. Not me and not Hermione._ _ **You**_ _have to be the one to end this.'_

He saw the spell leap from her wand, arcing straight toward him, he quickly cast a blasting hex and subsequent levitation charm to raise a large slab of the bridge's stone in front of him to take most of the spell. The force of the exploding rock however, launched him over the side of the destroyed bridge, breaking his ribs and expelling the air from his lungs.

Catching himself on the edge of the platform, he could hear Bellatrix cackling above him. As the strength began leaving him, he heard a voice above him crying out.

" **LeStrange!"**

As soon as he recognized the owner of the yell, his grip on the bridge gave out, and he started to fall.

' _He he, there you go, Neville. She's all yours.'_

He pondered trying to cast the slowing charm that he'd seen the Headmaster use in their Third Year to save Harry during the Quidditch game, but he knew even if he could use it, he wasn't proficient enough in it to save himself.

Another spell came to mind.

' _Wingardium Leviosa.'_

This slowed his descent, but not by much. It wouldn't save him, but it would give him time to get his thoughts in order.

'Harry, I'm sorry for abandoning you. You can decide which time I'm apologizing for later. You're closer to me than any of my brothers, which is saying something. I know you can do this. You're strong enough to beat him and reckless enough to even try. Knowing you, you'll probably finish it in a few minutes. Hopefully however, it takes a bit of doing, because I'll be pissed if you could have killed him ages ago and saved me the trouble of doing all this. Name a kid after me, will ya?

'Hermione, I'm sorry. I was an arse when I was younger, and I've continued to be an arse until now. My pig-headedness cost me the possibility of a relationship with you that would have either lasted a lifetime, or we'd have laughed about for as long. Hopefully, you'll find someone who is as great an influence on you as you were on me. Actually, strike that. Subjecting you to yourself would be too much. Just pick a nice guy to settle down and get into trouble with every once in a while. Name a kid after me please? I'll haunt you if it ends up with the name Malfoy though…or Smith, or McLaggen, or Krum. Or if you marry ANY Weasley.

'Ginny, I'm sorry for being so overprotective of you. You're my little sister and the closest to me in age beside the twins. I know you're grown up now but you'll always be the baby of the family. Go ahead and take advantage of that, but not too much. Take care of Neville for me.

'Luna, I'm sorry for making fun of you all those times. You're a great person, and I hope you find those Crinkle-Hump Things. Maybe name one after me?'

'Neville, watch out for yourself. You've grown up into a good man. Watch out for everyone, actually. I know Seamus and George have been talking about going into business together. Just keep checking in to make sure it's not a smoking crater, okay?'

'Mom…Dad…thanks for everything. I hope I made you proud of me in the end.'

'Professor McGonagall, thanks for being there for us. I've had two grandmothers already, but I'll count you in there as well.'

'Professor Lupin, do you think I qualify as a New Marauder now?'

The world began to speed up again, and he knew his spell was failing. Using the last of his magic he cast a Cushioning Charm behind him and waited for the impact. Despite the Cushioning Charm, the impact shook every bone in his body, or at least the ones that weren't already fractured, broken, or shattered. An immense pain shot though his previously non-broken leg from the side. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the Deluminator that Professor Dumbledore had given him in his will. He suddenly recalled a conversation he'd had with the Headmaster in his First Year, just after he'd awoken in the Hospital Wing.

-RW-

He awoke in the Hospital Wing to light streaming from the window. In front of him lay several boxes of sweets, such as some Chocolate Frogs and some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.  Standing at his bedside, was the Headmaster, smiling serenely down at him.

"Good morning, Mr. Weasley."

"Hello, Professor Dumbledore. How is Harry doing? What about Hermione?"

"Fine, they're both just fine. Mr. Potter is resting comfortably, and Miss Granger has taken the liberty of taking notes for the both of you while you recover."

"Well, that's no surprise. I think Hermione would go barmy if she didn't have to study for a test."

The Headmaster's eyes twinkled as he nodded.

"Yes, that _is_ understandable. Miss Granger was close to being the first hat stall we've had in the past 500 years. There is a remarkable amount of Ravenclaw in her, as well as Gryffindor."

' _I'll say.'_

'As a matter of fact, the only other student who came close was young Mr. Longbottom.'

' _Uh-oh.'_

"You don't say."

"Truly. No student is entirely of one House's disposition. Even the swiftest of Sortings has some small percentage of another House within them."

Ron immediately thought of a certain blonde Slytherin.

' _Yeah, and next thing I know, I'll be happy to have gotten a maroon sweater from Mum.'_

"As rare of a find as it is, it would appear to my knowledge that young Mr. Longbottom is almost entirely divided between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor."

"Really? I would have never guessed that."

"Yes, it appears young Neville is full of surprises. Wouldn't you say?"

The twinkle in his eye appeared to dance much faster somehow.

'Bloody Hell, he's onto us.'

Ron tried as hard as he could to avoid going pale before answering.

"It sure surprised me, Sir."

The old wizard smiled before responding.

"I feel Mr. Longbottom will continue to surprise everyone during his tenure here."

Turning to leave, the professor stopped a short way away from his bed.

"I have one more question for you, Mr. Weasley, if you don't mind me asking?"

Ron thought it over and shook his head.

"That's fine."

The wizard turned toward him and spoke softly.

"Why did you sacrifice yourself in the game, Mr. Weasley?"

Unprepared for this question, Ron sat for a moment before replying.

"Because I knew…I still know, somewhere inside me, that Harry was the one who had to finish it. It will probably always have to be him."

The old wizard frowned at that.

"And why do you say that?"

Ron thought for a moment and spoke,

"Harry is a small kid. Smaller than most people I know. But he's got this presence in him and radiating off him that makes you want to follow him. It's kind of scary sometimes, but it's got pure intentions behind it, y'know?"

The wizard smiled slightly but kept silent.

"He's a kid, and a boy at that like I am, so he's lazy and messy, and disorganized most of the time, but when he sets his mind to something, like catching the Snitch or solving the mystery, you know he's going to do it somehow."

The old sorcerer thought for a moment before speaking again.

"If you were given the choice…as hard as it is to accept…would you do it again?"

Ron thought about that for some time before answering.

' _ **Would**_ _I do it again? Does he think I'll ever_ _ **need**_ _to?'_

"I apologize for posing such a difficult question to you. You may disregard it if you'd li-"

"Yes, I would."

The old man looked puzzled.

"You would what?"

The young ginger shrugged his shoulders.

"You asked me whether I would do it again. The answer is 'Yes, I would.' It's not a question about whether a possibility is hard to accept. That sort of difficulty doesn't really exist. Either you accept it or you don't. If there's any possibility that a choice like that will have to be made in the future, then I'll choose 'Yes' every time. Even if Harry refuses to accept it, which I know he will. It's not our job to make calls. It's our job to put Harry in the position where he can make the important ones."

The older wizard looked at the boy as if seeing him truly for the first time.

"You know Mr. Weasley; there is a very old saying, older than you or I. I believe it applies quite aptly to this situation. Would you like to hear it?"

"I suppose, sir."

"Very well, the saying goes as thus; ' _ **Great men are forged in fire, it is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame.'**_ "

Ron regarded this for a moment.

"I like that saying sir, but with all due respect, I don't agree with it."

The professor looked at him quizzically.

"You don't?"

Ron shook his head

"No sir, I don't. I don't see any reason the person lighting the flame is any less great than the one who enters it."

The Headmaster pondered this for a moment before chuckling.

"Why are you laughing sir?"

The man looked at him for a moment before responding.

"I've just realized which Houses you encapsulate Mr. Weasley. You see, a long time ago, a student here learned this quote from one of his teachers. It was met with very much the same attitude toward it as you have now by friends."

"These friends were named _Godric Gryffindor_ and _Helga Hufflepuff_."

Ron was stunned at this revelation.

"Now I must really be on my way. If you don't mind, I'd like to sample a few of your beans, if you would be so kind."

The boy tried to clear his head of his stupor.

"By all means."

The Leader of the Light studied the box for a moment, closed his eyes and picked two at random.

Popping them in his mouth, he frowned.

"Alas, 'thick amber' and 'plum-tree gum', the dangers of an old man."

With a nod to Ron, he turned to leave.

"Good Day, Mr. Weasley."

"Goodbye, Sir."

When the old man was nearly out the door, the boy called him back.

"One moment, Sir!"

The Supreme Mugwump re-entered the room.

"Yes? What is it?"

"You never told me the name of the student who was friends with Gryffindor and Hufflepuff."

"Ah. My apologies. The student's name was Gaius Emerys, although, he changed it later if I recall correctly. I believe the name he went by was…Merlin."

After revealing that startling bit of information, the Headmaster vanished through the door again.

Ron sat there in stupor or a few minutes, blindly eating Chocolate Frogs.

"Wow."

Reaching for another frog, he was saddened to realize he had finished them.

Looking over to the other side of the Infirmary, he spotted a familiar head of hair with a mountain of sweets in front of him.

' _Harry won't mind if I grab a few frogs. He never would have gotten past the board if I hadn't been there…I'll just call it a "guide fee"…'_

-RW-

"Those frogs _were_ delicious…I've gotta say."

Turning the Deluminator over in his hand, he thought back to those words.

" _ **I don't see any reason the person lighting the flame is any less great than the one who enters it."**_

' _Well, I'm feeling kinda great right now, so that's true.'_

Suddenly, he heard a noise off in the distance below him. Turning painfully, he saw several acromantulas dragging a webbed bundle with long messy dark hair, and a hand with long black nails protruding from it.

' _Well, that cinches it. Visiting Aragog's house was definitely the worst day of my life.'_

Above him he heard cheering and happiness. He wondered how people would tell this story.

'It was a bad day. A lot of people died, a lot of good people. Good creatures too. But it was also a great day…'

Closing his eyes, he couldn't resist one final word,

" **Checkmate."**

 **-KF-**

A few parting notes: I've hidden references to 'Merlin'(albeit vaguely), The Wizard of Oz, 'Doctor Who', the film 'Horns' starring Daniel Radcliffe, Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.

Don't own any of them, they belong to their people.

Anyone sees anything you like; feel free to use it in one of your own stories, or just leave a review and I'll get back to you as fast as possible for me.

This also took twelve hours of near non-stop typing, this includes refresher research.

Also, yes…I made a big fuss changing Lavender Brown's race…for a pun no one noticed.


End file.
